Formatted text (especially bullet points with the first sentence bolded) seems to be twigging some people that it’s AI-generated. (I’ve mostly seen people share Reddit posts where they’re dismissed as being machines.) I also saw someone note that bolded key points made them feel like the author thought they were dumb and was condescending to them.
I personally use a lot of formatting in my blog writing, which I intend as a courtesy to the reader. I know that people have a lot of options for reading material, and that they must judge quickly whether or not a piece of writing will be pertinent to their interests or needs.
How to Read a Book describes a staged approach* to evaluating a text that can be adapted to other forms of writing: first, read the headings and judge the structure of a piece, next check out any figures and charts, then read the intro (and potentially conclusion) to gauge if the middle is worthwhile. Only then do you actually read it.
Supporting this style of reading is why I use headings extensively in longer posts — and often long headings that describe a full idea. Bolded and italicized text within paragraphs also creates a path of arguments that readers can jump between like stepping stones. The post is designed to be skimmed, whether as prelude to a closer reading or just to get the gist.
Bullet points visually chunk ideas, cueing the reader that the content is pre-categorized and connected. They also create negative space. Emphasized phrases and words, as well as hyperlinks, add texture inside the text. I aim to vary not only the length and structure of my sentences, but the shape of paragraphs too.
Visual variety helps readers drop mental anchors within the text, whereas a visually homogeneous wall of text can blur together. (Why I hate justified type 😠) While this isn’t the same as the tactile memory of where in a paper book you read something, I think it draws on the same concept. Scrolling as navigation limits readers from forming tactile geoanchors in a digital text, so visual cues allow for more granular navigation than “near the start” or “near the end”.
I think this is especially true on a smaller screen like a phone, where much less text appears in the viewscreen at a time — so likewise, I break what might be treated as a single long paragraph into smaller chunks. (Case in point.)
Far from assuming that readers need handholding, when I use formatting in a post it’s because I respect your time.
Hypertext is read differently than printed text, so it ought to follow design conventions better suited to screen-based, scrolling reading environments. Writing for the web is a type of design; how a text looks very much informs the reader’s experience.